The project record: what wins and loses a claim

A claim is only as strong as the records behind it. Courts, arbitrators and adjudicators prefer documents made at the time over evidence reconstructed later, and the party with the better record usually wins the argument about what happened. This lesson sets out which records prove what, and how owners and contractors should keep them.

Learning outcomes

• Explain why contemporaneous records carry more weight than later evidence.
• Match each common record type to the claim element it proves.
• Describe record-keeping duties in CCDC 2-2020 GC 6.3 and 6.6.
• Build an event file for a single delay event.

The lesson

Why records made at the time win

A daily log written on the day of an event is hard to argue with. A witness statement written a year later, after the claim is filed, is easy to argue with. Ontario courts have stressed that detailed, contemporaneous project records such as schedules, correspondence and work records are essential to support delay claims [2]. The SCL Protocol makes the same point and recommends that parties agree, at the start, which records will be kept and that signed records be used where practicable [3].

What each record proves

Duties in CCDC 2-2020

CCDC 2-2020 puts record-keeping into the claims clauses. Under GC 6.3, a contractor working under a Change Directive must keep full and detailed accounts and records of the cost, and the owner may audit them. Under GC 6.6, a party making a claim must keep records sufficient to substantiate it [1]. Many owners' Supplementary Conditions go further and require cost codes, schedule update formats and photo records. The duty is not only the contractor's: the owner who cannot show when its decisions were made is in a weak position on causation.

The event file

For each delay event, keep one file with: the triggering document, the notice, the response, the schedule update before and after, the daily logs for the period, the cost records coded to the event, and the photos. Build it as the event happens. Assembling it afterwards takes weeks and leaves gaps.

Northgate worked example

Northgate Distribution Centre (fictional) is a 12,000 m² tilt-up warehouse in Vaughan, Ontario, built by Halvorsen Builders Ltd. (fictional) under CCDC 2-2020, with Ridgeline Architects Inc. (fictional) as Consultant. See the Northgate fact sheet. This course follows one delay claim from first notice to settlement. Ready-for-Takeover (M9) was due Friday, January 14, 2028 and was reached on Tuesday, March 14, 2028: 60 calendar days late. All events, dates and amounts are illustrative.

The mezzanine redesign (event E-03) shows why the record matters. Halvorsen raised RFI-118 on July 26, 2027, asking how to support heavier office loads the owner had requested. Ridgeline answered with a revised structural design on August 30: 35 calendar days later, against a contractual turnaround of 5 Working Days. Figure 2 shows the record trail both sides built.

Because the RFI log, the notice, the owner's representative's site reports and the August schedule update all agree, nobody argues about what happened. The argument moves to how much of the 35 days reached the critical path, which lesson 5 answers. The crane breakdown (E-01) is the opposite case: Halvorsen's daily logs record it plainly, so Halvorsen cannot later present those days as owner delay.

Your move

If you are the owner

• Specify the records in the tender. Daily log content, schedule update format, cost codes and photo standards.
• Keep your own record. Weekly site reports and a decision log with dates.
• Review the contractor's logs as they arrive. Correct errors in writing at the time.
• Audit Change Directive costs monthly. Not at the end.

If you are the contractor

• Write daily logs for a stranger. Crews, equipment, areas, weather, events and instructions, every day.
• Code costs to events. A separate cost code per delay or change event.
• Photograph with dates and locations. Before, during and after.
• Put verbal instructions in writing. Confirm them the same day.

Common mistakes

1. Logs that say "normal progress". They prove nothing.
2. Mixing claim costs with base costs. Without codes, quantum becomes an estimate.
3. Unanswered errors. A log you never corrected may be read as accurate.
4. Reconstructing later. It is expensive and less credible.
5. Losing native schedule files. PDFs of updates cannot be analysed; keep the native files.

Quick quiz

1. Why do contemporaneous records carry more weight?

   1. They are longer
   2. They were made at the time, before any dispute
   3. They are signed by lawyers
   4. They are always typed

2. Which record best shows the critical path before and after an event?

   1. Photos
   2. Schedule updates
   3. Invoices
   4. Minutes

3. Under GC 6.3, who may audit Change Directive costs?

   1. Only the bonding company
   2. The owner
   3. Only the court
   4. Nobody

4. What should a contractor do with a verbal instruction?

   1. Ignore it
   2. Confirm it in writing the same day
   3. Wait for the minutes
   4. Act on it and invoice later

5. How late was Ridgeline's answer to RFI-118?

   1. 5 days
   2. 35 calendar days, against 5 Working Days
   3. 10 Working Days
   4. It was on time

Show answers and explanations

1. B. Records made at the time are harder to dispute than evidence prepared later.
2. B. Schedule updates show the path at each date.
3. B. The contractor keeps detailed cost records and the owner may audit them.
4. B. Written confirmation creates the record.
5. B. Raised July 26, answered August 30, 2027.

Key terms

Contemporaneous record

A document made at or near the time of the event it records.

Daily log

The contractor's daily record of crews, equipment, weather, work and events.

Event file

One file holding every document for a single delay or change event.

Cost code

An accounting code that tracks cost for a specific activity, change or event.

Native schedule file

The original scheduling software file, such as a P6 XER, rather than a PDF.

References

1. Canadian Construction Documents Committee, CCDC 2-2020 Stipulated Price Contract, GC 6.4 to 6.6 and Part 8. Clause content checked against a publicly posted tender copy; buy the form from CCDC.
2. Miller Thomson LLP, Ontario Court underlines the evidence and analysis required to establish critical path delays (July 2021).
3. Fenwick Elliott, The SCL Delay and Disruption Protocol: a second edition (November 2017), summarizing the Society of Construction Law Protocol, 2nd edition (February 2017).
4. FTI Consulting, Assessing loss of productivity in construction: the importance of contemporaneous documentation (March 17, 2025), citing AACE RP 25R-03.
5. BRC, Northgate fact sheet (fictional case study, v1, November 4, 2026).

Verified on November 9, 2026.

Next lesson in this trackFloat ownership and the baseline